DURHAM, N.C. — Central Pines Regional Council (CPRC) has been awarded $200,000 as one of 10 grantees in the Advancing Workforce Mobility initiative, a $3.5 million national effort led by Education Design Lab in partnership with Credential Engine and supported by Walmart. Selected from a competitive pool of more than 400 applicants, CPRC will use the funding to research and prototype skills-based credentialing frameworks for high-opportunity local government roles across central North Carolina.
The initiative aims to expand hiring pathways for workers who are Skilled Through Alternative Routes (STARs), people who have built valuable expertise through work experience, military service, community college, or other non-degree pathways, but whose skills are often invisible to traditional hiring systems.
"We are excited to receive an Advancing Workforce Mobility grant award. For several years, our local government members have been collaborating and working on strategies for hard-to-fill local government positions and this grant is a wonderful opportunity to advance our collective work. Public service offers wonderful, fulfilling career paths and we appreciate Education Design Lab, Credential Engine and Walmart supporting us.," said Lee Worsley, Executive Director, Central Pines Regional Council.
Addressing a Regional Workforce Gap
A recent Pathways to Government report - produced jointly by United Way of the Triangle, the Raleigh Bloomberg Innovation Team, and Central Pines Regional Council - identified four high-demand, hard-to-fill career paths in local government that offer livable wages, advancement potential, and strong alignment with skills workers already carry from adjacent industries:
- Utilities and wastewater technicians
- Maintenance and land management
- Social work and human services
- Electric line workers and inspectors
These roles meet a clear standard: they are in high demand, difficult to fill, offer competitive compensation with upward mobility, and draw on transferable skills from fields already feeding into public service.
What Makes This Work Different
Rather than simply creating new training programs, CPRC will partner with local governments and workforce organizations to address the structural barriers that prevent skills-based hiring from taking root. That means examining, and where necessary, reforming, the job descriptions, classification systems, and pay scales that often make it difficult for qualified candidates without four-year degrees to advance.
Specifically, CPRC will:
- Identify the concrete skills required to succeed in high-opportunity local government roles
- Map where those skills are already being learned and earned across the region
- Work with hiring systems to make non-degree credentials visible, verifiable, and trusted
About Central Pines Regional Council
Central Pines Regional Council serves 50 local governments in central North Carolina, helping them to tackle big challenges they can’t solve alone, building targeted expertise, and helping communities save money, learn from one another, and create a better quality of life for everyone in our region. Learn more at www.centralpinesnc.gov
About Education Design Lab
Education Design Lab is a national nonprofit that co-designs inclusive, skills-based education-to-work pathways that improve economic mobility for the New Majority Learner-Earner. Learn more at www.eddesignlab.org.
About Credential Engine
Credential Engine is a nonprofit dedicated to creating transparency in the credential and skills marketplace to help people find pathways to opportunity. Learn more at credentialengine.org.